House Of Horrors

It was the correct call.

It does always seem to be against the Mets when the umpires decide to call things by the book, and it's no surprise that the latest rule debacle happened at Turner Field, and in Atlanta, where Mets go to die as they dropped another one in Atlanta, 8-6. But it was right to call David Wright out because he was a good foot away from second base trying to break up the double play grounder by Doug Mientkiewicz. The relay was thrown away and the Mets briefly tied the game at 7-7, But ump Jeff Nelson made the interference call and the Mets were denied the two runs.

Kaz Ishii killed the Mets by walking Horacio Ramirez with the bases loaded in the second inning, and Rafael Furcal cleared the bases with a triple to give the Braves a 4-1 lead. Ishii only had 3 walks (one intentional), but was hit hard, giving up 7 runs in his 4 innings. All 8 runs scored by the Braves tonight were with two outs. 49% of their runs on the year have been scored with two outs.

The calls for Mientkiewicz's head are growing. The slick fielder is carrying an anemic stick, grounding into two double plays tonight and hitting .197 on the season. Cliff Floyd was o for 4 and the MVP chants have ceased. He popped up with the sacks full and no one out in the 8th, where eventually Mientkiewicz would ground into the umpire assisted double play. David Wright had a big game, going 3 for 3 with a HR and three RBI's before his meltdown in the 8th inning.

Even when you look hard enough at the field which should have been named after Hank Aaron, you can't tell the difference between Ishii and Kenny Rogers. Was that Andruw Jones walking home the winning run in the 1999 NLCS? Or was that pitcher Horacio Ramirez walking with the bases loaded?

Was that David Wright flipping out and tossing his helmet across the diamond? Or was that David Cone letting two runs score while arguing with the umpire?

Was that Mike Piazza throwing a ball into center field to let Otis Nixon go to third and score the tying run? Or was that Jose Reyes letting a ball go through his legs to give the Braves an insurance run?

Was that Brian Jordan hitting a grannie off of John Franco? Or was that Brian Jordan, oh wait that was Brian Jordan.

The names change. The faces change. The heartache remains the same.